Race Report: 2024 Chico Downtown Crit - Men’s Pro/1/2
Race: 2024 Chico Downtown Crit - Men’s Pro/1/2
Date: March 10, 2024
AVRT racers: Jon Wells
Top Result: Jon Wells, DNF
Course: 1 km loop in Downtown Chico. The L-shaped course has 6 corners per lap (5 left and 1 right) through the streets of Downtown Chico. Pancake flat and fairly wide open course/corners, especially for a downtown course. Fun vibes with quite a few people out at shops in town, particularly for an overcast, chilly day
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10934393461
Nutrition: a pre race Redbull and 60g flow bottle during the race
Race Recap:
I decided pretty last minute to make the drive up to Chico to race when the weather started to look better on race day. I wanted to support this race so it can come back to its former glory as a full blown stage race with big (130+ person) pro fields from years past, but didn’t really want to make the drive just to get rained on. The weather held out so I made the trip.
Mens Pro/1/2 field was fairly small, only around 25 riders. Terun was the only team with any sort of presence (3 riders) and riders of note included Tyler Williams and EJ. The race got off to a fairly animated start, with lots of individual riders getting excited to throw moves and counter over each other. I rolled with a couple moves in the first 15 min that I had momentum to follow. Shortly after the second of these were brought back, I got a front flat tire. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any spare wheels in the pit or a means to fix the sealant spewing gash in my tire so my race was done.
Blake from Red Peleton ended up riding solo off the front for most of the race while Tyler Williams dragged him back with minimal help from the field. Tyler would also flat out at the end of the race, leaving the door wide open for Terun to take the win. Terun threw an early last lap flier, out of corner 2, and stuck it all the way to the line.
The promoters were very enthusiastic afterwards about the race coming back as a stage race next year (although they say that every year before it gets canceled) so hopefully it will be back in full force for 2025!
-Jon